I saw posting involving a mistake on Tire Rack's part, so I thought I would post this for everyone's benefit.

After bending both a front and a rear rim from a deep, jagged pot hole, I decided it was a good occasion to get new wheels for my s2000. I thought the OZ rims were gorgeous, and their light weight made them even more appealing, so I quickly ordered a set, 17x8 in back, 17x7 in front. The wheel and tire package was quickly shipped to my house, and I, along with a friend, drove up the s2000 to a wheel shop to have them installed properly. The next day, after a lot of driving (a good 100 miles, highway) I had the wheels tourqued at the same shop, as one should.

For the next two days, I feel out the new wheels and tires. Lighter and wider than stock (though the exact same diameter so as not to alter handling/speedo reading/gearing at alll), I thought they felt amazing. Naturally, the added confidence compells some serious driving on my part--I was taking off ramps on our sweeping Missouri highways at silly speeds, and the added high-speed stability was also realized at 120-130 mph on the highway.

On the fourth day, I am driving behind a friend along a 2 lane road at about 40 mph. I hear a massive thud, and my car drops a foot or more up front, and is leaning heavily to the left. I hear scraping (the car is now moving on 3 tires, and a brake rotor), look to my left, and see a gorgeous, 17x8 OZ Superleggara rolling along with my car--5 feet away. I stay composed, more out of shock than true willed poise, and swerve, screeching, into a large church parking lot. My wheel actually follows the curve of the road into the parking lot, 10 ft away from my car. I am not kidding.

There was a total of 4, 680 dollars worth of damage. When the wheel came off of the wheel hub, the fender was crushed upwards when it fell onto the wheel--this also bent up my hood. The front bumper was also damaged, being plastic and fragile, and the brake was totally gone.

I can look back at it with some humour now, but the gravity of the situation really must be realized. Basically, Tire Rack put the centering rings of the front rim on the back, and the back ones on the front. It's common knowledge that the s2000 has different centering rings, front and back. The shop did not realize this, and perhaps they were not to blame. To them, the wheel may have just seemed to fit properly. Apparently, the improperly sized ring in the front left wheel caused an improper fit, as well as unusual vibrations that actually jarred off the lug nuts all at once. Tire rack was gracious enough to write me a check for 4, 680 dollars for the repairs, so I was lucky to have my car, and my life. To think, the night before, I was driving 130mph on the highway, and sweeping through 95 mpg off ramps. What if this had happened then--just 14 hours prior, on a turn at near triple digits? I would not be typing this.

So, basically, CHECK + DOUBLE CHECK your centering ring sizes anytime you get new rims! And check your lug nuts once in a while. Tire Rack is not error proof. Not to mention, there are other randomn things--soures of vibration that can jar off lugnuts. Even tampering--I've heard of similar instances where some punks attempted to steal the wheels off of a car, but were interrupted and ran off. The driver only discovered what they were up to 3 miles down the road.

Stay safe everyone,

lucky SOB

 

Glad you're ok man. Shit happens. Be careful

 

make sure you re torque your wheel after 30 miles of your first torque. after that you check again wiht more miles

 

That is terrible! I am glad everything worked out for you. That is a good heads up for those of us who change the rims/tires for the winter. Thanks!

 

Did tire rack give you any trouble before paying for the damages?

what kind of proof did they want that the center ring was their mistake?

 

That's a pretty amazing story. Glad to hear you are OK. I'd probably just be in shock if that happened to me. "Hey, that looks like one of MY wheels...?"

 

Well . . . here ya go folks, lets see rights v. privilege police in the seatbelt thread pile on here.

Lucky for all the other people on the highway . . . that the wheel didn't come off when this idiot was going 130 on the freeway.

friend, you're not lucky, you decided to push your car like that . . . , everyone else is lucky that you didn't fire that missile into their car while you where so gratefully observing the priviledge that driving is.

 

Glad you're ok. And glad Tirerack took care of the bill. I ordered enough tires and wheels from them, so it's nice to know that they take care of us if something goes wrong.

I once saw a Ford Focus lose one of it's front wheels on the Beltway. She did couple of 360's, but ended up regaining control of her car and she pulled over to the side. I just remember one of her wheels coming off and going off by itself on the Beltway. Scary stuff.

Well, I had a similiar incident in the S, but not to that extent. After replacing my stock wheels w/ some Work wheels with the recommended torque setting, I went for a spirited drive for about 2-3 hours with some nice twisties. On the way home, my wheels felt out of balance. So, I pulled over and inspected the wheels. It turns out my spirited driving caused the lugs to come loose. I was lucky that I pulled over, because extra 1-5 minutes and I would've been in the same situation as you were. I retorqued my wheels with extra 5 ft-lb than recommendations and no more problems.

 

I guess he's the only guy on this board that has ever "pushed" his car like that. I know that every time I ever drive my car, I always drive like I'm taking my road test.

Glad to see you're OK bud. But please be careful.

 

Scary shit. Glad you are OK.

I had a front tire blow out on me on the highway (not in the S, this was years ago.) and it was VERY violent. I was able to maintain control and there was no real dammage. I was lucky, sounds like you were too.